Tickets on Sale Now

The 17th annual concert event is scheduled for January 26, 2013 in the Rockford High School Fine Arts Center and will feature Rockford’s own Cameron Blake.

The talent of Cameron Blake is refreshingly honest and rare in an age of predictable music. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of Music, Cameron first began his career as a classical violinist. After a near mental breakdown at the conservatory in 2006, he began paving a new path as a performing songwriter by teaching himself to play the piano and guitar.

Cameron has since released four records of original music and has performed in many of the great folk and rock venues throughout the United States, as well as in Europe. His nuanced vocals and soulful lyrics have garnered praise from The Washington Times, Baltimore City Paper, Revue Magazine and Maryland’s NPR station where his songs have been described as “refreshingly poetic,” “evocative” and “profound.” Cameron was recently honored for his contributions to culture and the performing arts as an inductee into the 2012 Rockford Public Schools Hall of Fame.

REF is a non-profit organization, created in 1991, to raise money and award grants for creative and innovative ideas in education within the Rockford community. Since the beginning, the REF has awarded more than $1 million in grants to the community.

Reserved seating is available for $28 per ticket. For infor-mation regarding REF or the annual event please contact REF at 616-863-6317 or www.rockfordschools.org/ref

The Squire has been Rockford’s free weekly newspaper since 1871. Our loyal readership includes over fifteen thousand homes in the Rockford area, including the affluent Lakes area of Lake Bella Vista, Bostwick Lake and Silver Lake; Belmont, Blythefield, as well as Algoma, Courtland, Cannon and Plainfield Townships. The Squire is distributed through the U.S. Post Office every Thursday. We also deliver to in-town businesses and homes with paper carriers and news stands in our grocery stores and over thirty local shops.